Coronary artery disease (“CAD”) may produce coronary lesions, such as a stenosis (abnormal narrowing of a blood vessel), in the blood vessels providing blood to the heart. As a result, blood flow to the heart may be restricted. A patient suffering from coronary artery disease may experience chest pain, referred to as “chronic stable angina” during physical exertion, or “unstable angina” when the patient is at rest. A more severe manifestation of disease may lead to myocardial infarction, or heart attack.
A need exists to provide more accurate data relating to coronary lesions, e.g., size, shape, location, functional significance (e.g., whether the lesion impacts blood flow), etc. Patients suffering from chest pain and/or exhibiting symptoms of coronary artery disease may be subjected to one or more tests that may provide some indirect evidence relating to coronary lesions. For example, noninvasive tests may include electrocardiograms, biomarker evaluation from blood tests, treadmill tests, echocardiography, single positron emission computed tomography (SPECT), positron emission tomography (PET), and coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA). The noninvasive tests may provide indirect evidence of coronary lesions by looking for changes in electrical activity of the heart (e.g., using electrocardiography (ECG)), motion of the myocardium (e.g., using stress echocardiography), perfusion of the myocardium (e.g., using PET or SPECT), or metabolic changes (e.g., using biomarkers). However, these noninvasive tests typically do not provide a direct assessment of coronary lesions or assess blood flow rates. Thus, patients may also require an invasive test, such as diagnostic cardiac catheterization, to visualize coronary lesions. Diagnostic cardiac catheterization may include performing conventional coronary angiography (CCA) to gather anatomic data on coronary lesions by providing a doctor with an image of the size and shape of the arteries.
However, both invasive and noninvasive tests for CAD are only useful in determining an amount of disease and/or risk of heart attack that has already been incurred. That is, tests for CAD are unable to predict future amounts of plaque build-up, stenosis, or other CAD that is likely to occur based on other known characteristics of an individual. Even though CAD is known to be associated with various risk factors, including smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and dietary habits, no techniques exist for predicting the onset of CAD. In addition, no techniques exist for predicting the type or location of plaque that is likely to develop in view of other known characteristics of an individual.
Consequently, the present disclosure describes new approaches for predicting the location, onset, and/or change of coronary lesions from factors such as vessel geometry, physiology, and hemodynamics.